F1 Japanese GP: Verstappen on top again from Norris and Piastri

A slow-burning session, which featured no track action for the opening five minutes, ended with a series of qualifying simulations in which Verstappen set a 1m30.267s lap to eclipse the two McLarens - which had found performance relative to the Red Bull driver overnight.

Verstappen had headed the field after the first set of soft-tyre runs, logging a 1m30.960s - slower than the previous day's headline effort as overnight rain had washed away some of the rubber on the track surface.

There was little running until the final 20 minutes, other than a smattering of longer runs from the Ferraris to assess the degradation further on the now-used tyres from the first run.

But with a third of the session's run-time left, many of the drivers dipped into another set of fresh softs in preparation for qualifying.

Oscar Piastri prised Verstappen off the top of the pile by 0.4s as the McLarens showed their hand, and was in turn beaten by Norris who set a 1m30.507s.

Verstappen could not better Norris's opening sector time, but found an advantage in the following splits over the Briton to move up to the front by 0.240s.

Persistent high levels of degradation ensured that any follow-up laps were slower as the best of the soft tyres had already been used, cementing the session in favour of the Dutchman - who topped all three practice sessions at Suzuka.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Sergio Perez's later lap put him fourth, but almost half a second adrift of the top three having continued to lose time in the opening two sectors compared to Verstappen.

Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had to endure their arrears to Verstappen over Friday being extended as they were 0.755s and 0.870s behind the championship leader respectively.

The two were first onto the road at the start of the session, and continued to run a little longer on each set of softs to explore the circuit - Sainz suffering a snap between the Degners during one of his exploratory laps and narrowly avoided the gravel.

Lewis Hamilton appeared to be marginally happier in his Mercedes after a difficult Friday, albeit 0.892s off the pace, as he outpaced team-mate George Russell - who had his running limited by a "damaged right-rear wheel shield".

Fernando Alonso was ninth fastest as his Aston Martin looked to be a handful out on the circuit, finishing the session just over a tenth up on Zhou Guanyu.

The Chinese driver outpaced team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.031s as Alfa Romeo continued to deliver on its solid pace shown on Friday.

Despite a contretemps with home favourite Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen was 12th fastest - the Dane did not get out of the way in the Esses as quickly as Tsunoda would have liked, as the Japanese driver delivered a typically irate radio message in his direction.

Esteban Ocon was the quickest of the Alpines in 13th, ahead of Tsunoda - who only did a soft tyre run at the end having spent the early part of the session running on mediums, as did team-mate Liam Lawson.

Alpine got Pierre Gasly's car fixed after his Degner 2 shunt in FP2, but the Frenchman could only prop up the order in the final practice session.

F1 Japanese GP - FP3 results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	12	1'30.267		231.592
2	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	16	+0.240	0.240	230.978
3	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	15	+0.288	0.048	230.856
4	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	12	+0.737	0.449	229.717
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.755	0.018	229.671
6	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.870	0.115	229.382
7	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	13	+0.892	0.022	229.326
8	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	9	+1.238	0.346	228.459
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	16	+1.282	0.044	228.349
10	Z. Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	15	+1.401	0.119	228.053
11	V. Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	15	+1.432	0.031	227.976
12	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	16	+1.613	0.181	227.527
13	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	13	+1.657	0.044	227.418
14	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	18	+1.684	0.027	227.351
15	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	13	+1.712	0.028	227.282
16	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	13	+1.735	0.023	227.225
17	L. Lawson AlphaTauri	40		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	18	+1.781	0.046	227.111
18	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	12	+1.846	0.065	226.951
19	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	19	+1.887	0.041	226.850
20	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	15	+1.932	0.045	226.739
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